I am in the process of having my Trike and trailer vinyl wrapped. Have you ever made such a crazy decision? That’s me, I’m known to go off on the wild side. Why I make these crazy decisions I’ll never know. After tossing around the idea and the cost of each, I decided to try the wrap. Liquid copper is the color. I am told since my ride is garage kept it should last up to 7 years. My current color is below. I will post a pic of the results after completion sometime next week. If you have tried the vinyl wrap, please comment.

You are correct, paint does last longer. If I were to disassemble, paint then reassemble the cost was 5k plus. However, I like color change every now and then. So I figured I could do two wraps 5 to 7 years apart, hopefully giving me 10 - 14 yrs for less money. I did question the durability of the product and was offered a guarantee of 5yrs. I was told the vinyl can be washed, and waxed just like paint. They did say 7 to 10 years depending on my maintenance and care, but I always go with the lesser number. But I agree with you paint would last longer.

My Wing is Beige, it blends in most backgrounds, especially concrete.
I'm kicking around the idea of a vinyl wrap.
Now & then I'll wear Mossy Oak shirt and/or pants, so why not go the full boat and do up the bike & trailer. If there's a minor tear the paints base color of Beige has that pretty much covered. When I Boon-dock camp, who's to know.

I have a friend who wrapped his GL1500 and side car in yellow a couple years back, and he is still happy with it. I think you did a great job, and it looks great. I have always liked the custom possibilities of wrapping, but personally don't have the guts to do it. Any time I have attempted to wrap, it has ended in disaster.

I have a friend who wrapped his GL1500 and side car in yellow a couple years back, and he is still happy with it. I think you did a great job, and it looks great. I have always liked the custom possibilities of wrapping, but personally don't have the guts to do it. Any time I have attempted to wrap, it has ended in disaster.

I had it professionally done by a company. I had no experience to do it myself. I'm happy now that I see the results. The installer had done bikes for the local PD but had never done a trike. He did say afterwards the price will definitely go up.

Call me old fashion fuddy dudy or just plain hard headed. I would spend $2800.00 on a compressor spray booth time and paint it every time. If I want to change color I will sell mine and buy a new color. Sticking something to a perfectly good paint job is just nuts! If just a part need touch up or replaced spent the cash to replace that part with factory. I can not imagine the mess you create once that crap comes off. I reserve the right of my opinion and know those who do not agree "well that is just to bad". If your going to stick vinyl to your motorcycle at least get paid by using advertising you know like buses and cagers.

I was trying to make the same decision wrap or paint. Since I didn’t want to shell out the 2g-3G for either and had access to the vinyl and like a personal challenge, I did it myself!
Watched a lot of videos and talked to my shop installer. Final product was great for a first time shot at wrapping with a 3M black ember colour. Almost looks like root beer
I did it last January and after a 15000k it looks great.
I clean it with pledge and never had an issue. This winter I am going to peel it off and do a white with gold flecks
To do it yourself you just need patience!!

Very interesting article. Looks really well. I was also curious did they wrap it while the bike is in one piece or remove all plastic and panels? Thanks

Marvin (Shep) Shepard
"It´s a friggen motorcycle, it´s not supposed to be comfortable, quiet or safe. The wind noise is supposed to hurt your ears, the seat should be hard and riding it should make you s**t your pants every now and then. "

Looks great! I bet the pictures don’t do it justice. As for hydro dipping, my brother built a hydro dipping tank a few years ago( he gets laid off every winter because it’s hard to do concrete work when the ground freezes in our part of the country). He’s found that pattern prints tend to distort over curvy pieces. He did a 20 ounce bubba cup for me with a carbon fiber pattern and it distorted pretty well. Also you would have to find someone with an extremely large tank to do goldwing parts. That being said , if it could be done with someone with the right skill levels and equipment, the possibilities are almost endless! Enjoy the ride on your liquid copper wing!